await
v. US //əˈweɪt// UK //ɐwˈeɪt// await
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1 to be in store for (v.) C1 Advanced Formal Literaryto be ready and waiting for someone.
to be in store for or to be ready for someone; often used when a situation or fate is prepared for a person.
ExampleA warm welcome awaits you when you arrive at the hotel.
ExampleThe young graduates had no idea of the professional challenges that awaited them in the competitive world of international finance.
Teacher's tipThis sense often places the 'thing' as the subject and the 'person' as the object.
From Middle English awaiten, from Old Northern French awaitier (“to lie in wait for, watch, observe”), originally especially with a hostile sense; itself from a- (“to”) + waitier (“to watch”). More at English wait.